


The Martian Heavy Light Exhibition

by Fairleigh



Series: Pulp SF Worldbuilding Origfic [2]
Category: Heavy Light - Animusic (Music Video), Original Work
Genre: Alien Technology, Gen, Lightshows, Monumental Architecture, Pulp Science Fiction, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-26
Updated: 2020-04-26
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:13:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23615773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fairleigh/pseuds/Fairleigh
Summary: Extensively restored in the 5000s, the Step-Pyramid rates among the most magnificent of the Ancients’ religious temples, and for all we know the Ancients did perform music at the top of it. Certainly its flat top and columnar extensions would imply a spectacular venue of some sort, not to mention an unobstructed view from the ground for three-hundred fallowes in every direction, though whether the view intended for the Ancients or their nameless gods is forever beyond our ken.
Series: Pulp SF Worldbuilding Origfic [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1736716
Kudos: 1
Collections: What Fen Do (Instead of Going Outside)





	The Martian Heavy Light Exhibition

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Resilur](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Resilur/gifts).



We know so little about the Ancients. They are, after all, _ancient_ , and the great flourishing of their civilization predates even the oldest recorded histories of the peoples of the Inner Planets. Nevertheless, the enigmatic ruins of their monumental architecture to be found on every planet and moon in our solar system — from the skycloud mountains of Jupiter, to the glacial seas of Triton, to the equatorial rainforests of Earth — prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the Ancients are in fact our ancestors.

The most famous Ancient archeological sites are, more often than not, household names: Aurorealis in the Venusian Sea, Taltec in the Chilean Andes, and Exomoor in the Plutonian Wastes, to name but three at random. Each site is visited by millions every system year, standbys for countless school excursions, life pledge honeymoons, and space cruise holidays. The discriminating traveler might even go so far as to malign them as tourist traps and seek exalting experiences in the mysteries of the Ancients elsewhere.

But where is the discriminating traveler to go for such experiences? Many of the lesser known archeological sites continue under active excavation, and beings who are not active members of the astrological scientific community are prohibited from entry. And others are, not to put too fine a point on it, unimpressive to the uneducated eye, hardly better than suggestive piles of rubble. Indeed, I have met many a seasoned, system traveler who has _never_ encountered authentic remnants of Ancient civilization outside of the atmosphere-conditioned halls of their planet’s premier world history museum.

It was therefore with no small amount of skepticism that I received a VIP press invitation to cover the opening night of the Heavy Light Exhibition for this august periodical. The dusty winds of the Rust Bowl are horrid to asthma sufferers such as myself, and the Step-Pyramid of Ares is unquestionably the most tragically debased of the Ancient archeological sites anywhere in the solar system. As a Martian boy born and bred, I take no pleasure in acknowledging the myriad failures of Martian stewardship of its own planetary heritage, and in this instance I was entirely ready to prejudge yet another “authentic” restoration on the basis of too many past disappointments.

Our fearless features editor informed me, however, that my refusal would not be accepted, so I girded my proverbial loins for a miserable system week back home. Nothing immediately subsequent to my arrival at Martian Central Spaceport inspired any confidence, either, most especially not the gaudy advertising campaign which greeted me as soon as I had past immigration and customs: _Light, Made Heavy! An Auditory Extravaganza! Tickets On-Sale Today!_ The signage was impossible to ignore, and the vulgarity made me hang my head with shame.

As anyone benefiting from a good grammar school education anywhere in the solar system anytime in the past 800 years or so already knows, the Ancients were pioneers of the pure astrophysical disciplines which enable interplanetary space flight in their practical applications. They were able to see beyond the transmutability of matter to energy and vice versa to understand when and how certain energy forms — such as visible light within narrow bands of the red-violet spectrum, a.k.a. heavy light — possessed the properties of both matter _and_ energy simultaneously. Harnessing heavy light provided the Ancients tremendous propulsive power, and heavy light machines were incorporated into their technological culture at every level. And of course, these machines are the reason why the Ancients succeeded in colonizing every corner of our solar system, establishing founder populations of colonists who have evolved into the diverse planetary races we are today.

Less well-known, though, are the ways in which the Ancients were known to use heavy light for purely aesthetic purposes. Archeologists have found assemblages which some have argued represent symphonic gatherings and instrumentation meant to utilize and manipulate heavy light for music-making. Although not uncontested in the academic field, such interpretations are generally accepted in the broadest of strokes.

The devil, as they say, is in the details. And this is where the organizers of the Heavy Light Exhibition have stepped in for what is an ahistorical, if spectacular, musical light show. I note that there appears to be a certain nepotistic arrangement between the organizing body and the ruling party of the Martian planetary government, and although I shall not sully these pages with the sordid details of whom has purchased the compliance of whom, and with what, it is clear that this event would not have happened in the absence of such backroom arrangements.

But I digress. This is a travelogue feature, not a political tract.

Extensively restored in the 5000s, the Step-Pyramid rates among the most magnificent of the Ancients’ religious temples, and for all we know the Ancients did perform music at the top of it. Certainly its flat top and columnar extensions would imply a spectacular venue of some sort, not to mention an unobstructed view from the ground for three-hundred fallowes in every direction, though whether the view intended for the Ancients or their nameless gods is forever beyond our ken.

It seemed to me that a not insignificant proportion of the solar system’s inhabitants had gathered on the Dust Bowl plains to view the show, a sea of heads as far as my vision reached in every direction. I, with my VIP press pass, was allocated a seat on a hovercraft positioned just beyond the top step of the Step-Pyramid’s westward face.

The song they chose to perform was “Ode to the Great Spirit,” familiar to all and less controversial than any planetary cultural anthem or contemporary tune. The music began slowly, with burst beams of heavy light calibrated to musical notes. These were striking and sudden, like linear bolts of electricity. As the tempo accelerated, percussion was added, with balls of heavy light dropped onto skin drums and shot towards bronze gongs, the sound increasing in volume as it went. The crescendo, almost deafening, was accomplished by shooting beams of heavy light directly into the air. I imagine that these notes could be heard as far as neighboring planet Earth.

Long story short? I have skied on the rings of Saturn and swum in the Venusian Sea. Yet until the night of the Heavy Light Exhibition, I’m not sure I’d actually _lived._ My congratulations to the organizers. I have become a True Believer in the power of the music of the light.


End file.
